


Stray and Hood

by CygnusTrash



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Catlad, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake is Catlad, and i don't have a beta so.... don't expect much, so it's not really good, this is an experiment too so really don't expect much, this was written four years ago btw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 15:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18875698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CygnusTrash/pseuds/CygnusTrash
Summary: Red Hood comes back to Gotham, he meets an "old friend" he didn't expect to see ever again.





	Stray and Hood

**Author's Note:**

> This is an experiment. I'll post many of my drafts (most of them old) and the one which gets the most comments (if they even get) I'll work on it. This was a sudden idea I got at like 2am and talked about it with my friend, and she told me to go for it.  
> This was written like 4-3 years ago, and worked on it for a while, but then idk, didn't go on. It's not that long, but I really like jaytim and haven't done much with them lately, even tho I have quite the amount of drafts of them, so this is one of them.

The dark streets of Gotham, always filled with scum like rapists and drug dealers who needed to be erased, and the Red Hood was going to make sure of that. Only if he didn’t had to deal in these moments with a brat he thought he would never meet again, especially not after coming back from the dead. Of course the brat had to get better with the pass of time, making it even more difficult for Red Hood to catch him, plus he still didn’t know who the kid was. Red Hood knew it was the same person even with the changes on the suit because only that brat would be able to push his buttons.

Question: why was he following a jewelry/arts thief? Was it because he was just annoyed at the kid or because he worked with Selina?

Huffing in frustration as he lost sight of the young thief, Red Hood turned around with frustration. He was supposed to be cleaning Gotham’s streets from the scum like rappers or murderers, not pursuing after a thief.

Turning around to swing to the next building, the moment he landed he was met with Nightwing, the older one grinning obviously witnessed to the failed pursue of Red Hood. He ignored him, walking past him knowing what his brother was about to tell him. Honestly Jason was in no mood to deal with Dick, not after losing the one person he really didn’t want to meet again. He thought that maybe the kid had moved on into a better life, became independent, left the mother cat’s nest (even though that made no sense). But no, apparently the brat was still around. Stray was still around, and Jason wasn’t even the slightest fine with that.

Why did Selina have to take a child into her business in the first place?

Jason remembered all those time when he was Robin, dealing with not only Catwoman, but also with a boy probably only three years younger than him who became the woman’s partner, who was just as good as Selina. He remembered the troubles the kid brought him. He remembered when he was a teen, going through all the teenage hormonal stuff and having the little shit flirting with him.

No, Jason was not fine with Stray being still around.

“Did you have any trouble?”

Dick asked, bringing back Jason from his memories as he tightened his fists with anger.

“Not your business,” Jason responded him coldly.

Honestly, he really was in no mood to deal with Dick and his jokes. Jason only wanted to go back to his nearest safe house, lie in his bed and sleep for the rest of the night that was all he wanted.

“I believe you met with Stray, finally.”

Jason turned around to stare at Dick; the older one could clearly feel the disbelief eyes behind the hood, chuckling while he walked to Jason to pat him in the left shoulder.

“What?” Jason tilted his head in annoyance.

Dick shrugged his shoulders, grinning with that annoying grin of him as he took out his grapple, shooting it to the next building. Jason groaned, a bit muffled by his hood, turning the other way and shooting his grapple gun, swinging back to his nearest safe house. He needed to rest, just to forget for a little the annoyance of having the little shit still around.

The way back to his safe house was calm, no thugs, criminals, drug dealers or rapists. A night he could actually rest and sleep until morning. But of course, life hated him, so the first thing he saw once he entered his oddly comfortable safe house was Steph and Cass just casually hanging out, right in the middle of the small living room. First he encounters Stray, then Nightwing is there to watch his failure in catching the thief and now Black Bat and Batgirl were sitting on his worn out couch, chatting like nothing, as if this was their own safe house. What a good night for Jason. He took out his hood, putting on a small table near the entrance and walked to both girls.

“He’s really a nice friend, I swear.”

Oh, and it seemed like they were actually having a discussion as Cass frowned at Steph, the later apparently trying to convince her friend of something. It was rather offensive that he had just got to his own safe house, found two Bats, and they were literally ignoring the fact that he was there.

It took at least ten seconds for them to actually turn to look at Jason, the discussion quickly forgotten as Stephanie rushed to him, grabbing Jason by the arms, a huge grin plastered on her face. The moment he was about to ask what were they doing in his safe house, Cass suddenly appeared behind him. Jason didn’t even have a moment to curse as he was quickly knocked out by his sister.

* * *

 

Trying to calm his fast beating heart, Stray hid behind the vents on a rooftop from a tall building, clutching his chest while he breathed heavily. He looked around searching for anyone that could be still out, whether a rogue or another Bat, meeting with the Red Hood was enough for him. He let himself fall on the ground, hugging his knees close as he stared up to the sky, suddenly memories of a little kid running through fire escapes and rooftops following after Gotham’s heroes with his camera came to his mind. He sighed, standing up to then take out his whip.

The feeling of flying in midair for few seconds was enough to calm him, swinging from building to building until he landed near the window from the penthouse Selina was staying at currently, it was the closest place. Opening the window quietly he looked for any sign of Selina, hoping she was asleep or at least out with maybe Bruce Wayne, which was impossible in these moments since Batgirl had sent him a message previously saying Batman was busy with a case relating Two-Face. So Selina had to at least be sleeping, if she found Stray arriving at this hour with the graze of a bullet on his shoulder, then he would never hear the end of it.

Honestly Stray wasn’t expecting to meet with the Red Hood; he thought he would be too busy with more important stuff than him stealing a golden necklace from some rich asshole, just like all the other Bats who were too busy beating Harvey’s ass. Wincing at the pain coming from his shoulder, he almost tripped the moment he got into the living room, barely keeping his balance. Until the lights were turned on, Selina resting on the kitchen’s entrance as she stared at the teenager between worried and angry.

“Oh, hey Selina,” he casually greeted, as if he wasn’t almost bleeding by his shoulder, “Can’t sleep?”

“I heard you met with the Red Hood,” she responded walking to him just to gasp at the injury in his shoulder, “And this confirms it all.”

“In a beginning I wasn’t planning on meeting him,” Stray turned away, searching for the first aid kit, “I thought he would be too busy dealing with drug lords or stuff like that,” he shook his hand as he took out the small box, “And I imagined he had already forgotten about me.”

“Two years since he came back as the Red Hood, and you just met until now?” Selina sighed, helping Stray with his small injury.

Stray nodded, wincing a little when he felt the alcohol on his shoulder as Selina put on a cotton on top of it. The woman chuckled at the teenager grimacing, trying to hide the pain while looking at the window, the clear night sky illuminated by the moon, the stars and the bat-signal. Just a night like this Selina had found him. Just a night like this, his world had taken an 180° turn. He quickly shook his thoughts of that, trying to think of a way to not get caught by the Red Hood. Though watching Jason once again kind of sent him a nostalgic feeling, a weird nostalgic feeling because Stray was sure the last time he met with him, Jason wasn’t actually trying to shoot him with a gun, no, it was a birdarang.

Once Selina was done with disinfecting the injury Stray thanked her, going to his room to change his clothes into his pajamas and go to sleep. The next day he had agreed to meet with Stephanie to go to the circus, apparently Dick had decided he would take all and of course Steph decided to drag him along beside all the times Stray had specifically told her he didn’t want to go, nor get tangled with the Wayne family. Also, it had been almost an eternity since he had last gone to a circus, because who would like to ever go again after experiencing such traumatic experience, not him.

As he was about to change into his pajamas, his cellphone began to ring. It was that special tone he had saved for his best friend, although it was Stephanie the one who had chosen it for herself after she passed him three songs she wanted him to listen. The song was Crash by Fit for Rivals, the beginning with the guitar successfully catching his attention as he turned to the bed to pick it up, answering the call.

“ _Hey Tim, don’t forget about tomorrow,”_ Stephanie cheerful voice rang through his ears, _“You’re not allowed to skip.”_

“I know, I know,” Tim sighed, “Even though I told you more than one time that I don’t want to get involved with the Waynes, because you know bats and cats, I completely have no other choice, do I?”

He heard Stephanie chuckling at the other side, more or less covering a group of voices on the background which seemed to be discussing about something. Stephanie didn’t seem to mind as she kept talking to Tim as nothing, because you know, bats and arguing was apparently a common thing for her not to worry.

“ _C’mon, Dick won’t stop bothering about me going out to meet with my best friend until I present you to him.”_

“All these years, all the hard work hiding to avoid Bruce Wayne and his sons, will be ruined in an outing to a circus just because Dick doesn’t even know you’re going out with Cassandra?” Tim smirked, knowing Steph had probably told everyone but Dick.

“ _If you put it that way, it sounds as if I was doing something bad,”_ she said, possibly pouting as she tried to fake innocence, _“Besides, what are best friends for?”_

“Fine, I’ll meet you at the usual place,” Tim sighed, defeated.

The sound of Stephanie cheering put a smile on Tim’s face, hanging up as soon as she bid him good bye and put his phone under the pillow. He changed into his pajamas to then lie on his bed, closing his eyes and letting the sleep embrace him, hoping to not get any nightmare this time.

* * *

 

So, apparently the reason why Jason had been suddenly kidnapped was because the circus was coming to Gotham and Dick wanted to drag everyone there, including him. Also it seemed like Stephanie’s best friend was going to come too, or that was what he heard her say on the phone once he was done yelling at Dick for getting him kidnapped, put inside a large potato sack and sending the only person Jason admitted he couldn’t defeat, _goddamn it Cass_. Jason wanted to reject the invitation, but against Dick’s annoying stubbornness and his own wish to spend more time with his family (not like he was going to say that out loud), he gave in, nodding and Dick cheering at the same time Stephanie cheered once she was done with her phone call.

When they were done with the arrangements for the outing, Bruce turned to Jason; his look changing into Batman’s the moment their eyes met. Oh no, this was probably going to be another big lecture about the use of guns and all his killings ( _I swear B, I’ve been trying to change_ ), then he would change his opinion about going to the Circus and he would have to drift apart even more, _shit Bruce_.

“I heard you met with Stray.”

What? Jason blinked, turning to glare at Dick who just whistled away. He nodded, not understanding where Bruce was planning to go with that.

“Did you have any serious trouble? Does he know you were Robin?”

Confused, Jason shook his head. Bruce sighed, apparently of relief as he turned back to the Batcomputer. Jason didn’t understand, but he was sure the kid didn’t know he was the second Robin, the dead Robin. Stephanie by the other hand bit her inner cheek, because she knew Stray knew who Red Hood was and she couldn’t tell them that. She promised Stray- Tim, she wouldn’t reveal his identity to them; they had to find out by themselves.

For a moment there was tension on the cave, until Alfred appeared coming downstairs with a trade of sandwiches on his hands. The former questions were soon forgotten as Dick and Stephanie ran to the butler, grabbing three sandwiches for each, Damian and Cass just calmly grabbed one sandwich and Barbara grabbed two, returning her wheel chair back to the computer to continue working on whatever case she and Bruce were on. Jason stared at Alfred and then at the last sandwich, Bruce hadn’t grabbed one so he doubted in taking it. However the moment Alfred walked to him, handing him the snack, Jason seemed pretty confused and not quite sure of taking, however the obvious look on Alfred of “Take it” was enough to grab the sandwich and give it a bite.

The tension got lost, Dick and Stephanie cracking jokes to fill the silence on the cave. Jason was honestly thinking on going back to his bike and driving off, if it wasn’t for Dick who decided to have a match between everyone, he would have done so. But who was Jason to reject a sparring session? Forget about sleeping for the rest of the night, they were bats, sleep was nonexistent for all of them. Well except Bruce, he literally flipped everyone off much to their surprise, going upstairs with the wish of sleeping through the rest of the night.

The sparring session went well, Cassandra beating everyone’s ass except for Barbara, Stephanie beating Damian’s ass much to the brat’s complaints later, Dick beating Jason’s ass and Barbara beating Dick’s nice ass. Nothing like a good old sparring session to spend time with the family, create new bonds and just plainly take out everything you got on a certain person. Although it didn’t last long because they were to get eight hours of sleep for their outing, and so Stephanie and Cass went to the safe house they were currently sharing and Jason drove off to his, bidding farewell to them. Barbara left not long after them, having to explain the Birds of Prey she wouldn’t be available later due to being on a free day, so no Oracle for the day.

* * *

 

On his way to his safe house, Jason kept thinking on the damn kid who had caused a mess of his teenage years before he was killed. Damn all the hormonal stuff that made him go through a hell, especially because Stray used to take advantage of it. Now Jason was a mature young man, able to resist any kind of urge in the middle of patrol or a fight, he would be able to catch the damn thief and get rid of him, not in the murderous “I will shoot him” way, but in the “I will send you to jail and I’ll make sure you never get out” kind of way.

When he got to the building located on one of the poorest zones of Gotham, Jason thought about what he was going to do the next (today) day with the whole circus thing Dick wanted to take them, since he was still pretty awkward around the family. He got along with Babs, Alfred and Steph, even sometimes with Cass and Damian (only when the brat wasn’t in the I’m-the-son-of-the-Batman mood), but the problem was the looks Bruce gave him whenever Jason was in front of him and the way Dick tried to act like the older brother he never was when Jason was still a young boy trying to fit on the Robin’s boots.

Once he arrived to his apartment, he locked the door and walked straight to his bedroom, only having to walk few steps since the place was small. Forgetting about his troubles during that day, he decided to ignore the shower just pulling off his clothes, throwing them away and leaving them spreading all around the floor. He put on sweaty pants and let himself fall on the bed, immediately falling asleep.

Compared to before, Jason rarely had nightmares of his death, and fortunately this was a night he could sleep calmly.

* * *

 

The sunrays passing through his curtain felt like they were burning his skin, groaning to find a way to cover himself up with the blanket and pillow. A sudden electric guitar ringing on his ears loudly, almost painfully for poor Tim who wanted to sleep some more, but of course Stephanie wouldn’t let him. Huffing annoyed, Tim reached for his cellphone lying at the ground for some reason, grabbing him and putting up near his right ear. Yawning he gave a sleepy “Hello”, only to be answered with a long cheery scream and then an almost maniacal laugh. If Tim didn’t know better his best friend, he would think somehow the Joker had got a hang on Stephanie’s phone and decided to make prank calls.

“It’s still too early for me to be waking up, please tell me this is worthy.”

“Of course it is! They’re going to come with me to pick you up.”

Well, fuck.

“Wait, what? No! They can’t!”

“Don’t worry, I told them I was going to meet you at the café we used to go.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there. Maybe we can create an unforgettable moment as the time I will probably get discovered by the greatest detective in the world and his disciples.”

Stephanie laughed.

“And when the question comes to how he discovered me, I will say it was because of an outing to a circus I was forced to go.”

“I didn’t force you… kind off.”

They laughed for a while, then changing to other topics usual of common teenagers (even though they weren’t common teenagers), Stephanie joking and sometimes teasing Tim. It felt nice, talking with your best friend without a care in the world and completely forgetting for whom they worked for or who they worked with. To be honest, Stephanie sometimes wanted to act like friends even when wearing the costume and when they were with the other bats, but Tim wouldn’t let her. It was even difficult for her to convince him to go to this outing with the Batfamily, since he was stuck to the idea he didn’t want to meet Bruce Wayne.

After probably an hour of speaking through the phone, they finally bid each other and Tim hung up, lying back on his bed to stare at the ceiling, wondering what would be the worst case scenario during the outing. Because he was over dramatic, his thoughts traveled to possibility of Bruce finding out just by looking at him, or worst, in the case Jason was also going probably the man would try to kill him right in the spot. Yeah, Tim still remembered all the fights he got with the second boy wonder, especially when he was still in his learning how to seduce stages, and of course he remembered Jason trying to hide a certain problem of his with his cape more than one time.

Ah, the good times when he used to have fun with the boy wonder, that until he heard about the Joker killing him and many years later Damian appearing, that was when the good times would have ended if he hadn’t had befriended the third Robin before, Spoiler, at least there was someone else he could complain with about the new brat wonder.

Stretching his limbs cat-like to finally leave the bed, he stood up walking into the hallway to get to the bathroom and clean up from the encounter the night before with Red Hood, honestly he had been too tired to actually wash up and just fall asleep. He saw Selina speaking on the phone, scowling as she apparently was trying to explain something and getting annoyed with every word she said. Tim sighed, continuing his way to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, he took off his pajamas and turned on the water, waiting patiently. As the water turned warm, he checked his body on the mirror above the sink, some scars new and old from the fights he sometimes got himself into. Usually Stray wasn’t one for fights, his mod was to slip in the shadows, take his souvenir and then leave, of course sometimes he would get into a fight with Robin, some other caped crusaders or even thugs.

When the water was finally warm, he got into the shower, enjoying the feeling of the drops of water running through him.

After finished bathing and getting dressed, Tim went into the kitchen finding Selina resting on the counter holding a mug with her hands; she eyed him curiously, as if expecting him to say something to then turn back to the living room, more specifically the large couch where a blonde figure was lying lazily. Immediately recognizing it, Tim sighed walking over to the figure on the couch while holding the bridge of his nose, trying to calm down and don’t start yelling.

The figure quickly turned around, revealing to be Stephanie, a huge grin drawn on her face while she held out a DVD, it was obviously some nerd movie Tim quickly recognized. She then looked over Tim’s shoulder to find Selina smiling at her, nodding while she went into her own bedroom.

“I thought we would meet later,” Tim sat on the couch, followed by Stephanie.

“Yeah, but I found this movie and I remembered we wanted to watch it when it came out, but you know how work keeps you busy,” Stephanie laughed, “You know, trying to catch a petty thief.”

“Hey, I’m offended,” he hit her shoulder lightly, receiving the same response.

“Well, the point is I went to your apartment but didn’t find you there, so I thought you would then be with Selina.”

“It was the closest and I was tired,” Tim explained, “So, you want to watch it here or go to my apartment?”

“Your apartment.”

“Just make sure you don’t have any tracker or bug, I like to keep that place mostly out of Bats reach.”

“Yeah, I know,” Stephanie waved her hand, standing up.

Going quickly for his cellphone and keys, plus some money, Tim also grabbed a jacket before indicating Stephanie he was ready to go.

The way to his apartment had to be by feet, talking about irrelevant topics and sometimes joking or teasing each other. Ah, friendship. Tim smiled while he kicked some stones, Stephanie telling him about the time Damian got his ass beaten by Cassandra, apparently it took the kid two hours to admit Cain had beaten him just to shut Todd and Grayson. Then Tim told her during his younger years when Jason was Robin and how he used to tease the former Boy Wonder, still remembering the red blush on the older boy’s cheeks, Steph laughed loudly not actually believing Jason having those reactions except for when Dick decided to tell old embarrassing stories of the second Robin, and even then Jason knew how to hide those expressions to avoid embarrassment.

On their way they went to a convenience store to buy some snacks for the movie, Stephanie getting to choose the nachos while Tim went for the soda.

They were only three blocks away from the apartment when an alarm went off, attracting everyone’s attention on the street to a nearby liquor store, a man in black running away from an angry owner with a gray bag in hand, clearly showing the stolen bottles along with the cash. Taking advantage of the people distracted, Stephanie threw a book from a random man passing by to the robber, making him fall on the ground, Tim meanwhile passed beside the man casually, saving something brown on his jacket’s pocket and walking back to his friend. He was a thief and occasions like these where nice to get some souvenirs, with people too focused on the ruckus or whatever was happening, for Tim it was like child’s play.

Of course, Stephanie noticed Tim just stole from a random man and was about to scold him, if it wasn’t because her best friend explained her the man really didn’t need that money as he showed her a business card he had also taken, showing it was just a rich man who decided to get out. Still, Steph scowled while walking ahead of him, Tim knew she wasn’t really angry since she knew this was who he was, and even though they were friends.

The rest of the way both friends continued chatting and laughing, for a moment unaware of two sets of eyes watching them from behind. That until both teenagers suddenly heard something similar to a whimper, drawing their attention to the alley behind them where Tim could’ve sworn he saw a male figure quickly hiding, Stephanie on the other hand just sighed, walking into the alley with annoyance as Tim could clearly see on her face, which gave him a bad feeling about this.

From out the corner, Steph dragged out a very much flustered Dick by the ear and a not really impressed Damian, or that was what the boy wanted to seem, he was really embarrassed of being found out after his older brother dragged him into this nonsense just to be discovered. Shocked, Tim wanted to run, hide somewhere away from these persons. He didn’t know since which point they had been followed, maybe they even found out Selina’s current hide-out and where about to find out his. Taking advantage that Stephanie was scolding and complaining about not having privacy, Tim began to walk away, that until he felt bumping into someone, someone well-built and obviously a man.

_Oh fuck._

Not his day, really not his day goddamn it. As he turned upwards, Tim could clearly see the face of Jason Todd, although his eyes were covered with sunglasses he could still tell who it was. What was next, meeting up with Cassandra Cain and finally Bruce Wayne? _Shit Tim, better not jinx it, this is Gotham._

“We didn’t follow you all the way, I had just decided to see how you were doing and then we heard the ruckus on that store and followed you up to here.”

Apparently Dick was explaining to Stephanie, and from what Tim heard it meant they didn’t see them coming out from the building he had stayed last night with Selina, but that still meant that if it wasn’t because they discovered them in time most probably they would have discover where Tim lived. He needed to sharpen even more his senses if it meant that Steph’s family was going to know about his existence as Tim Drake, you never knew when one of the Bats would be following you. Sometimes Tim thought that they could be classified as stalkers, and Selina actually agreed with him.

“So, is he your friend that will be coming with us tonight?” Dick asked, turning his attention to Tim.

_Damn it, run Tim, just run._

He thought, but Jason apparently decided he wouldn’t move from his spot, blocking and making harder Tim’s escape. He wasn’t mentally prepared still; he had decided to think about what he would say during the afternoon until the rendezvous hour.

“Oh yeah, this is Tim,” Stephanie turned to Tim, pulling him by the sleeve of his jacket closer to where they were standing, Jason following right behind.

Well, overprotective brothers much?

“Hi,” Tim greeted trying to remain calm, because the smile (no, that was a grin) Dick was giving him was so freaking scary, _and please you look like a creep_.

“Grayson, you look like a creep with that smile,” Damian spoke, as if reading Tim’s thoughts.

Pouting for a second to Damian, Dick erased the smile to a scowl as he examined Tim up and down, his hand on his chin as if thinking something.

“Is this some kind of test, or what?” Tim said, actually feeling annoyed because what the hell, he was Steph’s friend not boyfriend (they didn’t need to know he once was, nope).

Quickly stepping back, Dick gave him one last smile before grabbing both Damian and Jason by the arms and running off, leaving behind Steph and Tim very confused.

Deciding that he had almost been discovered, Tim decided it would be best to maybe go somewhere else to spend the time and maybe they could watch the movie some other time. Stephanie agreed with him, since she could very much clearly see the panic attack her best friend was about to have if he didn’t get away from the direction his apartment was, making her think more about the decision of having invited him to the outing. With just casually meeting Dick, Jason and Damian, Tim was already thinking about running off and hiding somewhere, who knew what he would be able to do if Bruce suddenly began to ask about his life.

Taking a turn to the left instead of going right, they instead went to a park which seemed pretty normal and calm. As they continued their way there, by the corner of his eye Tim saw Ivy sitting on a bench while entertaining herself with some plants, the last time he had seen her was in a job which included Harley and Selina, the other times he had only heard about the mayhem she had caused before being apprehended and sent back to Arkham. He wondered how long it took her to escape this time.

When Ivy noticed him she smiled at him, Tim calmly waved at her before continuing talking with Stephanie. Apparently Stephanie didn’t see Ivy and Tim wasn’t about to say it to her, so he acted as nothing hoping they wouldn’t make eye-contact and Stephanie would jump into action after gearing up.

* * *

 

It was finally time to meet with the Wayne’s, and Barbara, and Tim was about to have a panic attack. During his time talking with Stephanie he had mentally prepared himself, but right now it seemed like it hadn’t worked since the moment they were at the café and suddenly a black large car had parked in front of them, Tim was making more than one plan to run away, maybe steal one or two things and think how to make it up to Stephanie for the next time. But of course, being the best friend she was and knowing how Tim thought, Steph stopped him from moving by grabbing him tightly from the sleeve of his jacket.

Alfred stepped out the car to open one of the doors, indicating Tim and Stephanie to hop on. Stephanie pulled him inside, meeting up with the faces of everyone. Everyone was there, fucking everyone. They all greeted him with a smile, but the person which caught more his attention was Bruce, who had a more than serious expression as he greeted Tim.

_Well, this will be awkward._

And indeed, during the whole way everyone kept joking while Tim just sat there, between Damian and Stephanie, obviously because life hated him more than anything.

“So you’re Steph’s best friend, Tim” of course Dick was the one to start a conversation with Tim, “We’ve heard much about you from her, but tell me, how do you spend you free time.”

A little more and Dick would be asking what did he do for a living, that’d be totally awkward no matter how good Tim was at lying. He thought of an answer that wasn’t ‘I spend my time stealing from some rich assholes, along with the best cat-burglar of Gotham, you know the usual.’ Nope, he needed an excuse, something that could move them off his back, now that they knew he was Steph’s friend who knew how much Dick would try to discover about him.

The eyes of everyone (except for Stephanie) on him only made Tim more nervous, not because they might discover his identity, but because he really wasn’t one to like attention when in his civilian persona. Stray obviously focused on catching his opponents attention when he would steal from them, though sometimes he had to distract them with something else like trigger a false alarm somewhere, but Tim Drake was the kid no one had paid attention to ever (Selina was the only exception) and liked to keep it like that.

“I like to study some things about science or tech in general, the last one is my specialty,” Tim spoke with a cool voice, keeping himself as far from Stray as he could.

“He’s also a huge sci-fi nerd,” Stephanie chirped, a huge grin when she saw a blush spreading on her friend’s face.

Because Tim could always count on Steph to make him lose his cool, he turned to Dick who had a smile on his face along with Cass and Barbara. Jason was there (his eyes still covered with sunglasses) snickering while Damian only huffed, as if he was annoyed.

“Where did you learn those things?” Barbara was now the one to ask him.

Surely this would turn into an interrogatory soon enough, with questions about his life, then they’d discover he was Stray and damn it, he needed to stop being so paranoid or he would end up like a Bat. Sometimes Tim wondered if they really where that paranoid, they never discovered him when he used to follow them.

“Reading books, not like I had any other way,” he shrugged.

It was true, everything “advance” Tim knew was either because his parents made him learn those things, or because later he began to take books from libraries and read them, trying to learn everything he could by his own, since he didn’t have anyone he could ask for help. At least until he was taken in by Selina, then he began to learn some other stuff with Harley and Ivy’s help whenever they stopped by Selina’s places. Tim still learnt through books, always learning something new and now it was easier for him to understand.

Sometimes Tim thanked that Selina actually provided him with books when she took him in, saying she didn’t want him to fall back since he did seem the intelligent kid, the only dumb thing about him being going out at night following Batman and Robin. And honestly she was right, but there wasn’t anything else he had to do rather than being along at home, with a nanny that didn’t even like him. Plus it wasn’t as if he didn’t take the enough measures and right routes to not be seen by either the Dynamic Duo or the Rogues, although when he told that to Selina, the woman scolded him saying she found him, and he was lucky that it was her and not someone else.

“What about school?” Dick asked, tilting his head.

Steph flinched, though she wasn’t the only one, Tim doing the same action turning to look down. School was a topic he always tried to avoid; there was no way to explain that kind of thing without seeming suspicious.

Only when the car stopped and Alfred called saying they had arrived, Dick’s attention was shifted away from him along with everyone else’s, making Tim sigh of relief as he also turned to look at the people forming in a row to get their tickets.

The car’s door opened, everyone getting out and looking at their surroundings, all the people smiling cheerfully as well as kids running from one place to another, the loud happy music bringing a feeling of joy to everyone. Even the demon brat stopped frowning; Tim raising an eyebrow amused catching Steph’s attention so she would also see, both of them snickering while walking behind the others along with Cass. For a moment the awkwardness Tim had felt before had suddenly banished, talking to both girls was actually calming, that until he was suddenly dragged by Dick and Jason to the front with them. Life seemed to hate Tim apparently. All his paranoia coming back with the two former Robin’s piercing stares, only make Bruce turn to him and Tim would be running his way out of there.

It was easier to keep calm when Dick began to joke, Jason sometimes telling him to shut up along with Damian. Honestly Tim felt out of place right in that moment, as if he was almost invisible, and that was what kept him calm. Not being noticed was what he enjoyed as Tim Drake, it was what he grew up with for eleven years of his life, the only exception being Selina and that was when he was ten years old.

While Bruce went to buy the tickets, the others went in search of the snacks and drinks, Dick and Jason discussing on what kind of popcorn they wanted while Damian ignored them and picked his own drink, he was too ace to deal with them please. Steph and Cass were looking for the candies, the last one’s eyes shining with all the kind of sweets she found, pointing to them to a smiling Steph. Tim was just there standing not really caring for what to eat or drink, they didn’t have coffee so he wasn’t interested, plus being in the circus brought him back a certain memory, a kid who just wanted to spend one night with his parents and have fun. Well, that night marked more than one person, Tim thought as he eyed Dick smiling slightly.

A poke at his waist shook him out of his thoughts, turning to look at Barbara who handed him some popcorns, he gladly accepted taking a few in his hand, using the other one to eat them one by one.

“You know,” she spoke softly, “Dick and Jason recognized you. Even Bruce did, Timmy.”

Tim almost choked on the last popcorn that was left in his hand, staring at Babs with wide eyes full of horror, afraid that now they would send him to jail, if Jason didn’t kill him first because most probably the young man still felt a grudge against him for all those awkward tome Tim made him spend. He knew she should have denied Steph’s request to accompany her to this family outing. Years of trying to hide from this people, coming to this, _he was so doomed_.

“Hey.”

Dick suddenly came, eating caramel popcorn which meant he had won against Jason, a grin on his face which clearly read interrogation time. Oh shit, oh shit, this was how he was going to die if it wasn’t by choking on a damn single popcorn, Tim swore there was a book with a plot like that, but instead of a popcorn it was something else. Anyways, he was going to enter another panic attack, fuck secret identities and the bats, he was not going to deal with this. Screw everything he had put efforts on, everything was better than dealing with bats that apparently knew who he was, and were going to continue to freaking interrogate him.

Somehow, it seemed like the stars were aligned for his luck, since just as Tim finished thinking on sending everything to shit, the bat-sign got turned on, of course catching everyone’s attention. Now he wondered what kind of excused they were going to use, probably not everyone was going to go, that would seem too suspicious. Please send everyone but Steph, maybe even leave Cass and Babs here, even the freaking demon brat but the others could leave. And that was when his luck ended and the stars decided to just go against him, because the moment he turned around, Bruce, Cass, Steph and demon brat were gone.

Well, he lived quite a nice life beside the point of running from the Bats every night, so if he was going to end like this at least he had known that for six years the Bat didn’t discover him, did he? Wait, didn’t Babs say that they recognized him? Oh damn, oh shit, now he was indeed going to have a panic attack. Why of everyone who was there, Dick wasn’t one to go…? Right, the circus idea was his.

Tim was about to leave turn around and not give a damn about anything else, because they knew who he was. What was the point anymore if they knew who he was? Maybe he would try and get Selina to give him a job tonight, just to take his mind away from this horrible night.

He was about to take a step away, when a hand grab him by his right arm, instinctively Tim almost attacked the owner of the hand until he saw it was Dick, his grin still there. Honestly, the dude looked like a creep.

“Dick, you look like a creep,” Tim said, his eyes blank with no expression because he didn’t give a damn anymore.

“What-

“It’s true Dickiebird, you’ll scare the poor kid away,” Jason smirked, frowning the moment he saw the caramel popcorn on Dick’s hand.

Everything be damned, Tim was getting out of there, he was not ready to deal with this especially if he was alone.

“He even looks like he’s going to have a panic attack, if he’s not having one already.”

Turning his other side, Tim found that Barbara was also gone, meaning he was left alone with the two older brothers. Just his day of freaking luck. The interrogatory would begin soon, though nothing was said as Dick and Jason dragged him to the circus, searching for the places Bruce had got them before suddenly disappearing. If Tim didn’t know he wouldn’t have pay attention to it, but he knew about Batman’s secret identity, so in his opinion it was very suspicious.

While they waited for the show to begin, Dick began with his questions ( _an interrogatory, dude_ ), side commenting that he did recognize him the moment he heard his full name, remembering the kid who lived next door. At hearing this Tim sighed in relief, so Barbara was referring to that, no wonder, his parents also used to go to some of Bruce’s galas and when it was necessary he was dragged there, but only a few times. Questions from how he was doing, if he was currently working somewhere, etc., were actually annoying Tim who tried to contain snapping at Dick.

“So how did you meet Steph?” Dick continued on, a smile plastered on his face which only spoke ‘big brother’.

“I understand that you’re just being a protective older brother Dick,” Tim spoke softly yet cold, because honestly he was done with the interrogation, his eyes remained on the arena, “But I would rather speak of that with Steph around, my friend was the only reason I agreed coming here.”

Both former Robins stared at him, confused by his sudden change of tone of voice, from a calm yet little bit shy to a cold one.

“I would have much rather not accept this outing, since all I’ve wanted was to avoid you Waynes,” Tim focused on the beginning of the show, “Don’t take it personal, I just don’t like it in general.”

“Then why are you still here?” Jason asked, frowning because somehow that tone reminded him of someone.

“Because this brings me back memories, though not the happiest, right Dick?” he turned to look at both brothers with a slight smile, almost invisible.

Dick remained silent, narrowing his eyes while trying to understand what Tim was saying, Jason by his side trying to control himself as he tightened his fists, not wanting to draw attention to them, it would be pretty strange to suddenly find “Wayne son dead now back to life” in the headlines the next day, sunglasses were fine but not always worked. Tim only shrugged, standing up before one of them could say anything. This was totally a bad idea, but who cared anymore, for some reason he just felt frustration boiling up on him.

“But you’re right, I’ll go,” he gave them one last look, grinning, “I’ve got better things to do, so later.”

And just like that Tim walked away, feeling a little guilty because probably the Bats were back on their way, and Steph wouldn’t find him there. Yeah, he would owe her a big one and would have to pay if he wanted to remain alive. Which was a slim possibility since most likely Dick and Jason had already found out about him; he didn’t say anything that could imply his night life, but both of them were as smart as the big Bat to bring one and one together.

As he walked away from the circus Tim saw five silhouettes going back into it, quickly identifying them he walked faster, though knowing that if Bruce was being as paranoid as ever he had already seen him. But one had to keep appearances, so the man had no other option but to enter the circus along with the others. Tim was already hearing Steph’s voices the next morning over his phone, yelling at him for suddenly disappearing, and well what was she expecting from him when he was suddenly left alone with those two, plus it could have been worse if Bruce had also stayed.

Before taking the way to his apartment, Tim checked all over his clothes for any tracker, knowing perfectly that they had already begun to suspect him; really not a nice idea to have agreed to this with Stephanie.

* * *

 

For some reason Tim didn’t really feel like going to sleep, so he put on his suit and decided to just roam around, not really up to any kind of action for the moment, he just wanted to relax if that was too much to ask. And apparently yes, because when he thought the streets would be alone since all the Bats were in a family outing, most of the rogues were locked in Arkham except from Ivy who he had seen earlier today, he was asking too much.

Just as Stray was about to lay down on a rooftop of a tall building, only to star gaze and think about how he was going to deal with all this the next day, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Sighing, the young cat burglar turned around, his hand on the air as if to show he had nothing currently with him. His goggles were on although his hood was hanging behind his neck, yet at seeing the person in front of him he didn’t seem to mind, carelessly pulling his goggles down to make them hang on his neck.

“I was hoping we could talk until tomorrow,” Stray said, a smirk playing on his lips, though his eyes spoke something else.

He turned around, letting himself fall on the concrete ground from the rooftop, to actually do what he was planning in a beginning: star gazing.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left.”

Batgirl walked to him, sitting beside the lying teenager, her eyes also drawn to the few stars that could be seen in Gotham’s foggy sky, it was one of the few times that a bit from the sky became almost clear.

“Don’t worry, you had to do your work Batgirl, is what Bats do,” he chuckled, “That’s something I’ve learn to accept. So why are you here? Thought it was a family outing.”

“Told B I had to check up on my friend, make sure he got home safe without getting caught in troubles,” Batgirl smirked at him, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

“As you can see your friend is fine, and hasn’t got into any kind of problems… yet,” Stray sat up, pulling back his goggles along with his hood.

Batgirl was about to speak when Stray only chuckled, giving her a real smile this time.

“Don’t worry, I’m going straight back home.”

Without saying anything more Stray took out his whip, swinging his way to the one he had come from, already biding goodbye to his calming and normal days (not nights, they were never calm nor normal), hoping the next day wouldn’t be too difficult for him and wouldn’t have to deal with overprotective brothers.

* * *

 

The next morning came with a really sunny day, as if the sun was actually saying something like ‘Wake up motherfuckers, no time to sleep or cool down’, which Tim did not appreciate not even a little. Last night after getting to his apartment, Tim had got a message from someone who wanted to see him, because obviously if you send a message to a person with an unknown number that person will totally agree. Tim was in between thinking that person was dumb, or stupid to think he would just randomly accept to meet with a stranger who had contacted him in his personal number, so he just didn’t answer the message.

Trying to forget about the oh-so-awkward moment from the day before, Tim tried to busy himself with taking a shower, hoping to focus his mind on anything else. After finishing showering, he dressed up in his casual clothes ready to go for a walk to the nearest park, maybe he could meet Ivy there and talk to her, he hadn’t heard any news about plant-related accidents so maybe she was still at-large. Tim walked out his bedroom to the kitchen, already smelling the delicious aroma from coffee, he could taste the bitter taste of his favorite drink-

Wait, why could he smell coffee coming from his kitchen since he hasn’t even served himself a mug. Tim rushed to the kitchen, panic running through him as he wondered who could have invaded his home, deep inside hoping it was Steph. But Stephanie never prepared him coffee, she instead tried to take it away from him. _Oh shit_ , he thought more panicked as he moved around the corner to meet with fucking Dick Grayson in a light blue tank, black sweatpants and sneakers, holding his favorite red mug with coffee. _Shit, shit, shit, shit_. Tim kept murmuring in his head, his eyes wide as he met blue ones.

“Nice home you got here Tim,” Dick said casually, which only sent shivers down his spine, “How did you manage to pay for it?”

The apartment wasn’t as nice as Dick said. A small kitchen/dinning room, one bedroom, one small bathroom and a really small living with only one couch, enough for only one person who lived of robbing and to not draw attention.

“Small jobs,” Tim answered, which was partly true, “What are you doing here and how did you find where I live?”

Tim wasn’t even going to bother asking the second question, because of course in front of him was the first Robin, son and ex-protege of the World’s Greatest Detective™. But just to seem normal, he decided to, also to make sure Steph wasn’t the one who gave away information, though probably they had already discovered who he really was by now.

“Just trying to confirm something,” Dick handed him the mug, walking right past him.

“Hmm, let me guess.”

Turning to follow Dick’s moves, Tim walked behind him watching the older man carefully, yet at the same time eyeing his bedroom’s door with the corner of his eyes, already knowing what was probably going on in there. Well, no need to hide it anymore. Everything be damned, one day or another they would eventually find out and he would be left to his own consequences. With all honestly, Tim wasn’t scared of the big bad Bat nor any of his kids, maybe of Cass a little though because the girl could kick anyone’s ass, but that didn’t matter.

The point was that Tim was finally done with all of them. He hoped that Stephanie wouldn’t be mad at him and so she won’t nag him for the rest of his life, and brushed his hand slightly to Dick’s right side, quickly getting a wallet on his hands.

“This is yours and Jason is currently in my room, searching for any kind of evidence that I’m Stray,” smirking he waved Dick’s wallet on his left hand, while with the other he pointed at his bedroom’s door.

The look on Dick’s face made him chuckle, he didn’t expect him to be that surprise since they probably already had their suspicions, but Tim still felt kind of happy that he wasn’t that predictable, which meant that they were hoping he wasn’t the young cat-burglar. Well, he wasn’t sorry, but he was indeed Stray. However the thing Tim was most worried about was his friendship with Stephanie.

Ignoring the question look on the older man, Tim walked to his bedroom opening the door. Inside he saw Jason who had been searching through his drawers and currently through his closet, throwing away all the clothes that were in his way to the more Tim had already left on the floor.

“Everything’s up of you,” Tim commented, resting on the door’s frame.

Jason turned around, surprised before glancing quickly to an almost invisible opening on the closet’s ceiling, looking back at Tim immediately. “If you want to find the truth then do it,” he smiled at the second Robin.

Not really believing, or rather not wanting to believe Tim, Jason opened the small door up of his head. Carefully he entered his hand on what was apparently a small attic, immediately feeling a texture similar to leather, not quite being that material, but he knew. Grabbing it with force Jason yanked the suit out of there, behind the clothe falling the hood and a pair of red goggles.

“B was right.”

Dick said behind him, arriving at the exact moment to witness Jason holding the suit. Tim just turned to the man, grinning the way they had seen Stray grin, he wasn’t even trying to hide it. But what took them more by surprise was the fact that the boy didn’t even look nervous or scared that they had found out, he seemed pretty chill and was then that Dick realized, Tim knew about them.

Acting as if he wasn’t probably about to be arrested, Tim walked back to the kitchen, he really wanted to have some coffee and something for breakfast if he was going to deal with the two former Robins. Grabbing the cup he took seat on the couch, or rather laid on it, his back resting on one of the arms. From his bedroom came out Dick and Jason, the last still holding onto his suit before throwing it at Tim, who dodged it to take a sip of the coffee. He waited, he knew they were either going to speak or do something, whatever it was he was ready.

Before neither of the two elders could say a word, the door was slammed open, Stephanie quickly appearing into picture and rushing to the living room. The moment she saw her two older brothers her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed, clearly annoyed and most probably angry. She didn’t say anything, only walked to them with heavy steps which just showed better her anger, Tim didn’t even bother to look at her, he already knew what her expression would be. However, compared to him Dick and Jason both gulped, stepping away from Tim just as she pointed them with her finger to do so.

“Don’t bother Steph, they already know.”

Tim waved his hand before taking another sip from his coffee, Steph turning to him with wide eyes.

“I bet the big Bat sent them here to confirm who I am, and they did,” Tim turned to her, his lips curving into a smile, “He is indeed the world’s greatest detective.”

“He knows!”

Dick exclaimed, as if expecting Stephanie to be surprise, to which she only responded with a glare to him, only confusing both older men. “Why does he know?” He waved his hands obviously not understanding why Steph was so calm about it, and why Tim knew. No one was supposed to know.

“Probably Catwoman told him,” Jason commented, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Tim drinking his coffee.

“She wouldn’t.”

Doing the same action, Dick gave one step forward towards Tim before he was stopped not only by Steph, but also by the teenager’s laugh. Jason glared, annoyed because that was Stray’s laugh; why did he remember that feature, no idea.

“Indeed Grayson, she wouldn’t and she didn’t,” Tim stood up leaving his mug on the floor, “I did it by myself and it was all because of you.”

The smug look on Tim’s face was enough for Jason to punch the boy in the face, if it wasn’t because the younger dodged it jumping into the kitchen’s sink, grinning to then stick his tongue out mockingly. Yup, Jason was going to erase that grin of the boy’s face even if it was the last thing he did.

“Look, I would love to explain everything to you.”

Tim spoke as he sat on the counter, his grin still on his face enjoying the moment. Behind Jason’s shoulders, Steph also seemed to be enjoying it.

“But right now I’ve got people to meet, and if I want to catch them then I have to go now.”

“What kind of people? And why do you think we will let you go so easily?”

Jason continued to glare at Tim. This was getting really annoying, and Dick holding his arm wasn’t letting him fucking erase that shitty grin form the damn kid. _Fuck Dick, lemme go._

“Can’t tell, and that’s because if you send me to jail now how am I going to explain you the way I discovered you all.”

Finally getting down from the counter, Tim walked out to the door before waving at Steph and then to both bothers, before giving them a wink and walking out.

* * *

 

On his way to the park Tim thought about the beginning of his day, especially the fact that Bruce had suspected him of being Stray, which meant his life as Tim was over. Now he would have to expect any time for some member of the batfamily to appear or just plainly follow him, probably they were already following him. Just to make sure he turned around, finding Damian and Cassandra casually leaning against a wall, their eyes covered in sunglasses and the older acting as if she was reading some kind of magazine.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to search for Pam at the moment, Tim thought as he turned the other way, away from the park he was in a beginning thinking on going. And just as he turned to another street, from the corner of his eyes he could also see Cassandra and Damian also moving. Great.

**Author's Note:**

> Told you it was written four years ago, my writing back then wasn't really good nor did it tend to make sense most of them time.  
> If someone offers to be my beta, I'll be really thankful, although that would only be if it gets more comments than the others I'll publish it.
> 
> Hope you kinda liked it or enjoyed it, please leave a comment, kudos and subscribe if you did.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/kingcygnus) ▪ [main tumblr](https://cygnustrash.tumblr.com) ▪ [writing blog (originals)](https://king-cygnus.tumblr.com)


End file.
